Blog Tour and Review: The Speaker by Traci Chee

Having barely escaped the clutches of the Guard, Sefia and Archer are back on the run, slipping into the safety of the forest to tend to their wounds and plan their next move. Haunted by painful memories, Archer struggles to overcome the trauma of his past with the impressors, whose cruelty plagues him whenever he closes his eyes. But when Sefia and Archer happen upon a crew of impressors in the wilderness, Archer finally finds a way to combat his nightmares: by hunting impressors and freeing the boys they hold captive.With Sefia’s help, Archer travels across the kingdom of Deliene rescuing boys while she continues to investigate the mysterious Book and secrets it contains. But the more battles they fight, the more fights Archer craves, until his thirst for violence threatens to transform him from the gentle boy Sefia knows to a grim warrior with a cruel destiny. As Sefia begins to unravel the threads that connect Archer’s fate to her parents’ betrayal of the Guard so long ago, she and Archer must figure out a way to subvert the Guard’s plans before they are ensnared in a war that will pit kingdom against kingdom, leaving their future and the safety of the entire world hanging in the balance.

*****

Things that made me happy about The Speaker:

*The merry band of brotherhood - Peter Pan vibes for days, these lost boys (and girls) are rescued and then left with no direction, so Archer gives them a direction, and a purpose, and compassion. He gives them a reason to keep going and to move on from what happened. It's not always happy, nor is it easy, but I loved the bonds they all formed with each other. ALL THE FEELS.*The normalization of boys feeling emotions - society pretends boys can't and shouldn't cry, and I loved that this book let them feel all their feelings without the toxic masculinity that pervades our world today.

*The Current of Faith crew - always a pleasure seeing these pirates on the pages. They're thrill seekers looking to accomplish deeds that will get them remembered long after their deaths. But they're also just such a lovable group of misfits and rebels, and any time we were with them, I was SO into their newest adventure. I can't wait to see how they tie into the third book, and I want all the Current of Faith voyages, please and thanks.

*Queer love accepted without persecution or argument - which never seems to happen? Unfortunately, in a lot of non-contemporary books especially, the standard is heterosexuality, and anything beyond that is Not Okay to the society inside them. But here it just was. And I loved, loved, loved that.*It was richly diverse and detailed and dark - the world is one you'll want to sink your teeth into. It is vibrant and so unique (I mean, a world in which there are no books, HOW AWFUL AND CREATIVE), and the reason why I love fantasy so much. Also, it does not shy away from gritty subjects. Characters are tortured or do the torturing, some struggle with PTSD and their pasts, others lose loved ones or die. The book wasn't afraid to go there, and I'm here for the morally gray complexity of life.*Stories within stories - reading this, and The Reader, is an experience. I'm still trying to figure out how so much of it fits together, and because of its intricacy, I'm constantly surprised by the slow reveals and mysteries unraveled throughout the books. And the hidden messages, smudged thumbprints, crossed out and faded sections all make for an fascinating reading experience. One that you'll want to redo at least one more time so you can catch it all, even though you won't. I swear you still won't know everything. Trust me, I already tried it. ;)So yeah, y'all should read these books! They are SO GOOD, and I'm so happy I was invited to be part of this tour so I could have an excuse to talk about them more. Also, The Speaker is out *today* and if you're not rushing to a bookstore to get it or the first book, what are you doing with your life? Go, go, go!

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I'm Holly, the blogger behind The Fox's Hideaway. I love to read, write, play video games, and Netflix. I spend way too much time binge-watching TV shows I never finish, procrastinating life, and disappearing into the pages of a book for hours on end. I started this blog as a way to give myself a creative outlet for writing and talk books with people who "get" it. And it's since become one of the biggest passions I have, and it humbles me that you're here and reading this short little paragraph right now. I hope you'll stick around as I rant and rave and stumble through adulthood. :D

Want to find out more about me? Check out the "Who's the Fox?" tab! You can also find my blog button there as well. :)

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